Guide
Grease interceptor cleaning: a different tank, a different service
Updated
Searches mix these up constantly: a grease interceptor serves a kitchen, an oil interceptor serves a forecourt or car park. They are different tanks with different waste streams, and quoting one when you need the other wastes everyone's time.
The two tanks, plainly
- Oil interceptor / separator
- Sits on surface water drainage from forecourts, car parks, depots and yards; captures oil and silt so they never reach a watercourse. The waste is hazardous, needing a licensed carrier and consignment note. This site's cost figures (£300–£800 per visit, typical 2026 quotes) are for these.
- Grease interceptor / grease trap
- Sits on the foul drainage from commercial kitchens; captures fats, oils and grease (FOG) before they solidify in the sewer. Serviced by food-waste and drainage contractors, usually on a frequent cycle because kitchens generate FOG daily.
Why the distinction matters when buying
- Different contractors: forecourt tanker firms and kitchen grease trap services are often different businesses with different equipment.
- Different frequency: kitchen traps typically need far more frequent servicing than an annual oil separator schedule, sized to the kitchen's output.
- Different paperwork: oily separator waste is hazardous waste with consignment notes (see regulations); kitchen FOG waste is handled under general waste duty-of-care rules, still with a licensed carrier.
- Same principle: in both cases the cheap quote that says nothing about where the waste goes is the one to question.
If your "interceptor" serves a kitchen, ask contractors specifically for grease trap servicing and expect them to price on trap size and kitchen throughput; we do not quote a typical figure for kitchen grease trap visits here because the service cycle varies too much to give one honestly. If it serves a forecourt, car park or yard, our quote form is the right door.